Every January, on the eve of Epiphany, a witch known as La Befana descends on Italian households. Old and hideous in appearance but generous of spirit, she brings gifts to all those children who have behaved well over the course of the year but coal and garlic to those that haven't. Despite typically entering through the chimney, she is a stickler for cleanliness and can usually be relied upon to give your floors a quick sweep on her way out.

This year in Milan, however, La Befana found herself somewhat upstaged. There's a new old face in town, and despite his advancing years many people consider him rather beautiful. David Beckham also bears gifts, though sadly a solid work ethic, congenial manner and cultured right foot aren't exactly the sort of things you can leave in a stocking. He may not dust down your cabinets, but he's unlikely to pass judgment on your first-born either.

What he will do is pitch right in, and Beckham left to an ovation from the home support after playing a significant role – though by no means the leading one – in Milan's 5-2 demolition of Genoa. There were no goals and no assists for Beckham on his second Rossoneri debut, but plenty of neat passes and far more energy than you would expect from a 34-year-old who hasn't had a proper break in more than a year. He also hit the side-netting from one free-kick, and provided the initial ball in a move which led to a Milan penalty.

Not bad for a man playing in an unfamiliar position. Since arriving in Milan at the end of December, Beckham has let it be known that he is happy to play anywhere the manager, Leonardo, wants to use him, leading to speculation that he could wind up at full-back, but yesterday he filled in for the injured Alexandre Pato on the right of a three-man attack.

Hardly a like-for-like replacement, Beckham hugged the touchline and looked to cross when Pato might have cut inside but in doing so he created fresh opportunities for the Rossoneri. As the Genoa defenders were pulled further apart trying to deal with him on one flank and Ronaldinho on the other, Marco Borriello found more and more space in the middle and the striker took advantage, slotting home Milan's third from close range before adding the fourth with a stunning scissors kick – albeit from an offside position.

"I don't like setting these specific positions for players, it limits their options and takes something away from their capabilities," said Leonardo afterwards, and there is no doubting the fact he is grateful for Beckham's willingness to try new things. Milan have relied too heavily on a small group of players so far this season and there is little depth in most positions.

Beckham could fill any of the roles in Leonardo's three-man midfield and after yesterday's successful experiment will surely be used again in the attack. If the player had previously suggested he could help out in defence that may be because he knew that places there could be up for grabs. Massimo Oddo has been exposed repeatedly this season at right-back and is now injured. His replacement yesterday, Ignazio Abate is probably better suited as a winger and was at fault for Genoa's opener, having completely failed to track the run of Giuseppe Sculli.

That said, Milan may have already found a full-back with excellent distribution but limited defensive nous in the form of Luca Antonini, who laid on both of Borriello's goals. The angled ball forward for the striker's second, in particular, was perfectly weighted, and Antonini is at least able to make up for his defensive missteps with an impressive turn of pace.

With Gennaro Gattuso making his first appearance since October, the midfield might actually prove the trickiest place for Beckham to get a start. Borriello aside, the star of yesterday's game was probably Massimo Ambrosini, who won two of Milan's three penalties (all totally legitimate awards, though it is almost six years since a team won so many in a single Serie A fixture) after being brought down in the area, and whose direct running gave Genoa all sorts of trouble throughout.

Beckham could have taken the last of those penalties, incidentally, after being offered the ball by Ronaldinho, who had already scored one and had another saved. He declined, however, leading Ambrosini to snatch the ball and hand it to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, just off the bench, allowing the Dutchman to score his first goal at San Siro.

Either way Fabio Capello, watching from the stands, will doubtless have been impressed, even if this Genoa team, with 32 goals conceded so far this season, have the second-worst defensive record in Serie A. "What does he need to do to convince me to take him to the World Cup?" the England manager had mused in the days before Beckham's return to Milan. "Nothing. He needs to play like Beckham."

On yesterday's evidence Milan will settle for that, too.

Talking points

• Despite all the speculation, Ciro Ferrara remains the manager of Juventus, and his team got the new calendar year off to a good start with a 2-1 win away to Parma. Over the course of the winter break it had been speculated that first Luiz Felipe Scolari, then Pavel Nedved was set to replace him, but over the past week the stories have all revolved around Guus Hiddink. First a report in Russia said Hiddink had been offered £8m a year by Juventus (Italian newspapers subsequently put the figure at less than half that number), and then on Sunday a number of witnesses claimed to have seen him in various locations around Italy.

The most popular theory before yesterday's game was that Ferrara had been given two games to save his job – away to Parma and then at home to Milan. Whether there is any truth to it remains to be seen, but this at least was an impressive result against a Parma side who had lost just once at home this season, especially given that Juventus played the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Martín Cáceres was sent off, even if the performance still left something to be desired.

• Luca Toni made his debut for Roma but it wasn't an entirely happy one. He replaced Mirko Vucinic with 10 minutes remaining and the Giallorossi up 2-0 away to Cagliari. They then contrived to draw 2-2, with Daniele Conti, son of the Roma director Bruno Conti, responsible for both an assist and a goal for Cagliari in injury-time. Toni, described by the Roma president Rosella Sensi as the "most important" signing she has ever made, barely had a touch but is, to be fair, still some way short of full match fitness having not played since November for Bayern Munich.

• Goran Pandev also got his first start for Inter as they won 1-0 at Chievo to tie up the Winter Championship (the unofficial title given to the team who are first at the season's midway point) with a game to spare, but found himself overshadowed by Mario Balotelli, who scored the game's only goal and then took a shot at Chievo fans who had booed him. "Every time I come here to Verona I understand that these fans disgust me even more," said Balotelli, but his words prompted a furious reaction from Chievo, whose president and manager, along with several players, responded by insisting that he had been booed due to his gamesmanship, not his skin colour. "Balotelli mustn't dare to insult the people of Verona," said the team's president, Luca Campedelli. "He is a professional, he needs to accept that opposition fans will jeer him if he makes mistakes. Balotelli was not subjected to racist chants today, he was only whistled. The only racist noises I heard were from the Inter fans against our player Luciano."

• Sergio Floccari's Lazio debut was a more unequivocal success, as he scored twice in a 4-1 win over Livorno. The win was Lazio's 800th of all time in Serie A, and they will hope it represents a turning point after the team had managed just one goal in its last five top flight games.

• Napoli's impressive form under Walter Mazzarri continued with a 2-0 win away to Atalanta. The Partenopei are now up to fourth in the table, and have gone run of 11 games without defeat since the manager was appointed. Atalanta's defeat prompted Antonio Conte to resign after less than three months in charge. Conte's resignation was initially rejected by the club's board of directors, but they relented after a meeting with the coach this morning.

• It was a new manager but the same old story for Udinese, who lost 2-0 at Bari in their first game under Gianni De Biasi, who replaced Pasquale Marino during the winter break. Udinese have now taken seven points from their last 11 games, after taking 11 from their first six.